The traffic in Vietnam is infamous. Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, we hopped in a taxi. Naomi had warned me of the traffic, but I wasn't really prepared for the actual real life experience. I immediately reached for a seatbelt... To no avail. Imagine going from controlled Canadian traffic to... THIS. Sans seatbelt.
Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock. Then, we had a Tuk Tuk accident in Cambodia. For an undefined amount of time, very instance when a car got a little too close, I flinched. Which was ridiculously often. It was like I had some kind of tick. "Hey *twitch* can you take me to *twitch* Sky *twitch* Garden?"
Then, one day we were eating delicious sandwiches for lunch and Naomi and Valerie were like "Hey Kim, you should go on a scooter down town with Kelly. Yep, you should go. Great opportunity. Go. Go." My response was a shaky smile and something along the lines of "Um, oh. Yeah. Okay. Uhhh.... Scooter... Yeah? Okay. Um, he has lived here for two years yeah? Good driver? Okay. Sure." As we were heading off, Valerie said "Kelly, watch out for her she is naive!" which was meant with the best intentions and kind of completely true. Everyone got a fairly good laugh.
For the beginning ten minutes of that first scooter ride I was terrified. I had a mortal kombat grip on the handle on the back of the bike. Death appeared to be imminent.
Clearly, I did not die. And after those first ten minutes, I began to enjoy myself a little. I started to look around, see everything from the point of view that the locals see it from. To make an embarrassing reference, I felt like Jasmine on the first magic carpet ride.... No Aladdin though.
I began to enjoy it more. Eventually I noticed that there are rules to the road. Although they still seem somewhat ridiculous to me, they are followed. You honk when you are coming up to someones blind spot. The scooters usually stay to the right of the road. You try not to hit pedestrians. The list goes on.
After spending a month and a half in Vietnam, I feel like of my naivety has lessened. This past Thursday I ventured out on the back of a scooter once more. This time, I was only mildly terrified for the first five minutes. I was on the back of the scooter with a lady named Uyen, adventuring to a fabric market where all the locals shop. It was quite clear that me and my white arse were not a frequent sight in this particular shopping area. On the way back I felt very brave indeed. I took out my camera. It began to rain and I snapped about 500 blurry photos. This first photo is just typical Vietnamese traffic. Actually this is quite quiet. We went in a round about on a street called La Loi where I almost peed my panties (good thing I packed lots) see first photo for an accurate reference.
This is an incredibly typical image. A family heading home from school. The little girl had her sassy skirt on. At the very moment I took the picture, she is laughing at the funny looking tourist with the huge camera.
Just a guy, taking home some eggs. You know. As you do.
The things people manage to strap to the back of a scooter blows my mind. I've seen ladders, dressers, tables, chairs, dinner being balanced on one hand, giant tubes, instruments, animals (dead and alive) and televisions. I wish I had of seen more of these things whilst on Uyen's scooter, but I suppose you get the idea from the awesome guy with the propane tanks. Bet 10 dollars they are full.
This picture makes it look like I've driven a scooter in Vietnam. Which is a lie. But I got Uyen to take it anyways so if I ever really want to impress someone I will show it to them while simultaneously keeping them away from this blog. Letting someone I would want to impress read any of this would one, prove that I was lying about driving a scooter by my onsey. Number two, I feel as though my representation of our adventures in Vietnam would shatter any illusion they would have of me being "cool".
Finally, here is a video I took from the back of the scooter. It isn't busy traffic, but it may give you some idea of what it is like to experience a rainy season drive in Vietnam.
This is an incredibly typical image. A family heading home from school. The little girl had her sassy skirt on. At the very moment I took the picture, she is laughing at the funny looking tourist with the huge camera.Just a guy, taking home some eggs. You know. As you do.The things people manage to strap to the back of a scooter blows my mind. I've seen ladders, dressers, tables, chairs, dinner being balanced on one hand, giant tubes, instruments, animals (dead and alive) and televisions. I wish I had of seen more of these things whilst on Uyen's scooter, but I suppose you get the idea from the awesome guy with the propane tanks. Bet 10 dollars they are full.This picture makes it look like I've driven a scooter in Vietnam. Which is a lie. But I got Uyen to take it anyways so if I ever really want to impress someone I will show it to them while simultaneously keeping them away from this blog. Letting someone I would want to impress read any of this would one, prove that I was lying about driving a scooter by my onsey. Number two, I feel as though my representation of our adventures in Vietnam would shatter any illusion they would have of me being "cool".Finally, here is a video I took from the back of the scooter. It isn't busy traffic, but it may give you some idea of what it is like to experience a rainy season drive in Vietnam.
You on a scooter in a parka = best photo ever!
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